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National Review fires John Derbyshire

By Dylan Byers

04/07/12 07:28 PM EDT

The National Review has fired longtime columnist John Derbyshire following an article he wrote for an online magazine that was widely viewed as racist.

"[Derbyshire's] latest provocation, in a webzine, lurches from the politically incorrect to the nasty and indefensible," National Review Editor Rich Lowry wrote in a statement posted late Saturday night. "We never would have published it, but the main reason that people noticed it is that it is by a National Review writer. Derb is effectively using our name to get more oxygen for views with which we’d never associate ourselves otherwise. So there has to be a parting of the ways."

In the highly controversial column, written for Taki's Magazine on Thursday, Derbyshire suggests white and Asian parents talk to their children about what makes black people different and the threats posed to their safety by black people. Five percent of black people are "ferociously hostile" to whites, according to Derbyshire, and most are willing to be hostile. Derbyshire advises parents to tell their children not to live or stay long in predominantly black communities.

"You don’t have to follow my version of the talk point for point; but if you are white or Asian and have kids, you owe it to them to give them some version of the talk," Derbyshire concludes. "It will save them a lot of time and trouble spent figuring things out for themselves. It may save their lives."

"Derb has long danced around the line on these issues, but this column is so outlandish it constitutes a kind of letter of resignation," Lowry wrote. "It’s a free country, and Derb can write whatever he wants, wherever he wants. Just not in the pages of NR or NRO, or as someone associated with NR any longer."

The outpouring of criticism was quick, with The Atlantic's Ta-Nehesi Coates calling Derbyshire a racist, and Forbes's Josh Barro calling for Derbyshire to be fired.

Lowry's full statement is as follows:

Anyone who has read Derb in our pages knows he’s a deeply literate, funny, and incisive writer. I direct anyone who doubts his talents to his delightful first novel, “Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream,” or any one of his “Straggler” columns in the books section of NR. Derb is also maddening, outrageous, cranky, and provocative. His latest provocation, in a webzine, lurches from the politically incorrect to the nasty and indefensible. We never would have published it, but the main reason that people noticed it is that it is by a National Review writer. Derb is effectively using our name to get more oxygen for views with which we’d never associate ourselves otherwise. So there has to be a parting of the ways. Derb has long danced around the line on these issues, but this column is so outlandish it constitutes a kind of letter of resignation. It’s a free country, and Derb can write whatever he wants, wherever he wants. Just not in the pages of NR or NRO, or as someone associated with NR any longer.